Founded by Twitter's ex-CEO, the platform's appeal lies in its commitment to transparency and 'anti-toxicity' measures
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The Commercial Control and Consumer Protection Sector underscores the importance of interacting with consumers, traders and suppliers, and considers it as one of the pillars of excellence of the business community in Dubai. It helps in understanding and solving solutions to the problems faced by consumers, businessmen and suppliers.
Complaints & Responses Delay by car service centre: A lady filed a complaint against an automotive dealer. She claimed that she drove her car to the service centre of the dealer and was told that it would take one day to get her car serviced and that she could pick up her car the next day. However, the woman did not receive her car even three days after the set deadline. The Consumer Complaints Section contacted the auto dealer to verify the matter and came to know that the service centre had contacted the complainant to collect her vehicle even before the set time, yet she failed to show up. When confronted with the auto dealer’s allegations, the lady admitted to the aforesaid, and asked the complaint to be closed. Refusal to exchange deaf pet: A man lodged a complaint against a pet shop. The complainant alleged that he bought a dog from the pet shop, but after he took the dog home, he found out that the dog was deaf. He went back to the shop to return the dog and get his money back, but the shop owner refused to return his money. The Consumer Complaint Section communicated with the pet shop and instructed it to repay the complainant his money. The shop showed respect to the section’s judgment and repaid the complainant Dh5,000 after which the complaint was closed. Victim of pet’s age fabrication: A man lodged a complaint against a pet shop. claiming he bought a cat whose age, he was told by the pet shop staff, was six months. A few days later, the cat fell sick and the man took it to a veterinarian, who in turn told the complainant that the cat is no more than a few weeks old. The cat later died. The man reported the matter to the pet shop, and asked them to return his money. The shop owner, however, was reluctant to repay him. Having verified and looked into the medical reports, shown by the complainant, the pet shop was notified to refund the complaint’s money. The shop owner returned Dh4,500 to the complaint and the case was closed. Compiled by Salah Al Deberky |
Omar Khalifa, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection (CCCP) sector in the Department of Economic Development (DED), pointed out that the performance of the economic sectors in Dubai is at its best at present. “The trade sector scored record growth rates. The tourist sector has become an important one, which is seen in the increasing number of tourists. The logistics sector is witnessing growth in performance.
Work is in full swing to continue improving the business milieu in the emirate, and updating the projects and infrastructure.
“It is our duty to abide by the highest standards, particularly in consumer protection, and ease interaction between companies, retailers and consumers. The sector has set up six official channels for receiving complaints,” he said, adding that these channels are the Ahlan Dubai Centre, DED’s official e-mail, Twitter account, website, smart application and complaints hotline.
“This is to protect the consumer from trade fraud, boost the stability of the market, enlighten the consumers and spread the culture of consumer awareness on products and services,” he said, noting that it also meant for achieving the principle of competition, combating monopoly, monitor prices movement and work to prevent price hike.
He said the channels have given the consumer flexibility while lodging complaints, because of which complaints rose by 30 per cent last year as compared to 2012. “The sector focussed on spreading these channels, which serve as a watchdog through the consumer, who tracks the unhealthy phenomena which affect the performance of the consumer market.” Consumer’s duties also include watching and seizing expired products, combatting trade fraud, duplication and fraud in weights and scales.
“This will help the sector to intervene to find out how far the trade sector is committed to issuing bills, display prices and services, as well as verifying whether the suppliers and traders adhere to the laws and rules.”
Consumer complaints on the rise
More than 45,000 complaints have been lodged with the Consumer Protection Department call centre, an affiliate of the Ministry of Economy, since its establishment in October 2011 until December 2013.
Director of Consumer Protection Department, Dr Hashim Al Nuaimi, said the number of complaints rose 11 per cent last year compared to the preceding year with 12,063 complaints. He said price hike constituted 35 per cent of the total complaints last year compared with 40 per cent in 2012; complaints on motor vehicles and spare parts formed 25 per cent last year compared with 16 per cent the preceding year; while the rest of complaints were related to electronics, phones, real estates, credit cards, furniture and others.
“The monthly average of complaints registered last year was 1,100 as compared with 1,000 in 2012, while the daily rate of complaints stood at 36 last year as against 32 in the preceding year.”
He said the annual report shows a remarkable rise in the number of automobile related complaints, with a monthly average of 20 per cent compared with 12 per cent last year. Auto and spare parts were less than 6 per cent, electronics 6 per cent, phones 5 per cent, furniture 2 per cent, real estate 5 per cent and credit cards 1 per cent.
Most complaints on vehicles were related to maintenance service, breakdown of important car parts such as engine, brakes and transmission shaft, gear box.
December last year showed the highest number of complaints in 2013, which stood at 1,375, while the total number of complaints the centre received in the first quarter last year were 3,006. “The total number of complaints in the second quarter last year stood at 3,230, a rise of 19 per cent when compared with the same period in the preceding year, while the third quarter last year showed 3,572 complaints, and the last quarter showed 3,618 complaints.”
Dr Nuaimi called on consumers to keep in touch with the centre to report any misleading operations.
salah@khaleejtimes.com
Khaleej Times runs the ‘Consumer Forum’ series in collaboration with the Department of Economic Development in Dubai. Readers can email their complaints and suggestions to news@khaleejtimes.com with the subject line ‘Consumer Forum’ or raise them directly with the DED on phone number 600 545 555 |
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